


The Message

by ThoseWhoShowUp



Category: Veronica Mars (Movie 2014), Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 12:42:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3068336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThoseWhoShowUp/pseuds/ThoseWhoShowUp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set the night of Veronica's encounter with Stu Cobbler in the movie. Logan's voice-mail message leads to a conversation about his and Veronica's relationship. <br/>Written for VMficrecs December Prompts - Option 3: Today’s Inspirational Quote - "It takes one person to forgive, it takes two people to be reunited." Lewis B. Smedes</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Message

**Author's Note:**

> This story began as something completely different. I am not sure which story I (or you) would have liked better, the one that I intended to write or the one that grew authentically. Regardless, the story clearly had a plan of its own, and I feel I had no right to hinder its development.

Veronica stood outside the entrance to the hospital. She ran her hand through her hair before digging in her bag for a hairband and pulling it up. She was just too tired. She couldn’t even determine how many hours she had been awake. Trying to convince the nurses to let her in to see her father had been frustrating and fruitless. 

Now she wasn’t sure what to do. She had no car and clearly staying at the hospital was pointless. The doctor insisted it would be at least another 36 hours before she could see her dad. She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone. She stared at the number she had scrolled to momentarily, before hitting send. 

The phone rang four times before the voicemail picked up. “This is Logan with today’s inspirational message. ‘It takes one person to forgive; it takes two people to be reunited’ Lewis B. Smedes.’” 

Veronica furrowed her brow. She was puzzling over the message, which she suspected had something to do with her, and over who to call for a ride now that Logan hadn’t answered. As the phone beeped, she refocused. “Hey Logan,” she said. “It’s me. I was just… You know never mind, I’ll talk to you later.” 

She began considering who to call next. She wouldn’t wake Wallace, not when he had to be awake to teach in less than six hours. Mac also needed to be at work in the morning. Just as she was planning on calling a cab, her phone rang. “Hey,” she answered. “Sorry to call so late.” 

“It’s fine,” Logan replied. “Are you okay?” He had seen Veronica just long enough after her encounter with Stu Cobbler to stop him from going crazy, but then she had been taken by the deputies in for a statement, where he hadn’t been allowed to follow. She had insisted he should go home, so eventually, he had. 

“Yeah, I am at the hospital,” she replied, “…trying to see my dad.” She added this last bit to ensure Logan would know she was okay. “I… Could you maybe pick me up?” she asked. 

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” he said simply.

“Thanks,” she replied. 

Veronica was sitting on a bench by the parking lot when Logan arrived. She climbed into the car nearly ready to fall asleep. “How are you doing?” he asked when she sat down. 

“Okay,” she said. “Exhausted, but okay.” 

“So, you want me to take you to your dad’s house?” he asked. 

Veronica pressed her lips together. “Could, umm… Could I maybe stay with you tonight? I just don’t know that I can handle being at my dad’s tonight without him,” she managed to get out. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Logan. 

“Of course,” he replied without a pause. “You know I’m staying at Dick’s though.” 

“Yeah,” she said. “That’s fine.” 

********************************

Logan glanced at Veronica as he parked the car in front of Dick’s house. He had been wondering if he would have to carry her inside again tonight, but she was awake, barely. 

He turned off the car and climbed out. Noticing that Veronica still had not moved, he crossed to the passenger door and opened it for her. She looked at him somewhat startled. “Come on,” he said. “We’re here.” He took her hand and pulled her up. 

“Thanks,” she said distractedly. She began to move more consciously but didn’t release Logan’s hand. 

He led her directly to his makeshift bedroom once they were inside the house. She sat on the bed still in something of a daze. Logan wasn’t sure if it was her exhaustion or the trauma of the evening. He figured at this point it didn’t matter. It was nearly two in the morning; what she needed now was sleep. He dug in his dresser for a t-shirt and, returning to Veronica’s side, handed it to her. She looked at it puzzled. “For you to sleep in,” he clarified. “You can change in the bathroom if you want,” he added. 

This seemed to break her stupor. “Is Dick here?” she asked finally. 

“I don’t think so,” Logan replied. “Usually he would make himself known. He may be out for the night, or I suppose he could be asleep, but that seems unlikely.” 

Veronica nodded. “Okay,” she said. She pulled off her sweater and unclasped her bra before pulling on the t-shirt. Logan wondered momentarily if he should look away, but she had the shirt on before it mattered. 

Veronica looked back at him. “I’m sorry, I’m so…” she trailed off. 

“It’s fine, Veronica,” he said. “You should sleep.” 

She nodded in agreement and stood, slipping out of her pants now, letting them puddle at her feet. She looked between the bed and him. “You still sleep on the right side?” she asked. 

“I’m not particular,” he said. “You’re fine right there,” he added, gesturing to the right side of the bed where she was standing. She nodded and offered him a small smile. She remained standing by the bed however. Logan walked around her and pulled down the comforter. “Come on,” he said, “get in. You need to get some sleep. I’d say you’ve had about four hours in the past forty-two.” 

Veronica climbed into the bed. Logan turned and began to walk away. “Logan?” she asked. 

He turned back and saw concern in her eyes. “I’ll be right back,” he said. He went through the house turning off lights. When he came back to the bed, it looked like Veronica was asleep. He striped down to his boxers quietly and slipped into the bed. 

Veronica scooted back toward him, and he wrapped his arms around her from behind. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Thanks for letting me stay here, Logan,” she said quietly. 

“Anytime,” he replied tightening his grip around her. Veronica was asleep almost instantly, and Logan drifted off listening to the sound of her breathing. 

********************************

Logan awoke with a start an hour or so later. Veronica was no longer in his arms; she had rolled away, and he had turned onto his stomach. His eyes shot open as he realized Veronica was awake. She was sitting up, breathing in a way indicative of a panic attack. “V’ronica?” he asked sleepily. “Are you okay?” 

She looked at him her eyes wide. “I just… I keep seeing…” She stopped speaking and shook her head. 

“Can I do something?” Logan asked sitting up as well. 

Veronica looked at him with determination. Leaning toward him, she pressed her lips to his in a firm kiss. “Distract me,” she whispered pulling away just a breath. 

Logan didn’t respond as he pressed a deeper kiss to her lips and followed her body with his as she leaned back onto the mattress. 

After extremely passionate, fulfilling sex, Veronica curled herself against Logan’s body. “That was some good distraction,” she said in satisfaction. 

“Agreed,” he said simply. Turning serious, he asked, “What exactly was I distracting you from?” 

Veronica stiffened a little. She had hoped to be able to not talk about it. “It was nothing,” she said dismissively. 

Logan studied her through the dark. Old habits, he thought. He’d changed though, grown up, and he wasn’t going to let her dismiss his concern that easily. He reached out and tucked a loose hair behind her ear. “You know I’m good for more than just sex, Veronica,” he said.

Veronica looked at him slightly startled. “I know,” she said. When his eyes simply studied her questioningly, she sighed and said, “I just kept seeing…” She stopped and took a deep breath. She was glad for the protection offered by the dark room. She started again quieter. “I watched her die, you know?” she said. “I mean it isn’t like we were really friends, but…” She trailed off again. Logan just waited. “I went to her house for a sleepover once senior year. I was doing research for a case but still, you know.” 

Logan nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “I know.” Gia had never really been his friend, but she had been Dick’s, so he knew her well enough. 

“I mean,” Veronica began again, clearly on a roll now, “I didn't do anything to help her; I hid.”

Logan nodded. The strand of hair had fallen from behind her ear. He tucked it back again. “Thank God,” he whispered. Just then his phone began to buzz on the nightstand. He turned and looked at it wondering who would call him at this time of night. “It’s Dick,” he said. He looked back at Veronica. “It can go to voicemail.” 

Her eyebrows raised at the word voicemail; it brought her brain back to Logan’s inspirational message. But then she thought of Dick, “You should answer it,” she said. “Gia was his friend.” 

Logan nodded and grabbed the phone. He turned and sat on the edge of the bed, grabbed his boxers, and pulled them on before he answered. “Hey man,” he greeted. “What’s up?” Veronica listened to Logan’s half of the conversation; she was curious how Dick was doing. “Yeah,” Logan said. “I don’t know man,” he added a moment later. He glanced at Veronica. “You should talk to Veronica.” He offered her a small forced smile; clearly it wasn’t a good conversation. “Well, she’d be able to tell you better than I could,” he replied to whatever Dick had said. “She was there, man.” Logan paused thoughtfully listening. “Yeah, I am. You aren’t driving are you?” he asked. “Okay, I’ll talk to you later.” He hung up the phone. 

He turned back to Veronica. “He sounded pretty drunk. He wants to ask you more about what happened, maybe tomorrow,” he said. “Is that okay?” 

“Yeah,” she replied taking a deep breath. Logan set down his phone on the nightstand again. He laid back down and wrapped an arm around Veronica, pulling her to him. “So on the topic of your phone,” she said. 

“Yeah?” Logan asked glancing between it and her briefly. “What about it?”

Veronica had spoken before she really thought through what she was going to say; her curiosity getting the better of her again. “I was just going to ask about your voicemail,” she said. 

“The quote?” he asked. 

“Yeah,” she replied with a nod. “It’s about us?” she asks quietly again grateful for the darkness. 

“I guess that depends,” he replied. He moved his arm, so they were still close but no longer touching. 

“On what?” she asked. 

“You, I guess,” he stated. “Like the quote said, it takes two people to…” 

Veronica bit her lip. This was unfamiliar territory; she and Logan didn’t talk about this kind of stuff. They rekindled relationships much as they had the night before, with sex, but talking, not so much. Logan was looking at her expectantly. She took a deep breath. She was an adult now; she could do this. “So you’re saying that you want to… try this again,” she finished weakly unsure how to phrase it. 

“Of course I do,” Logan replied. He was taking a risk, putting himself out there if she didn’t reciprocate, but the fact of the matter was that having Veronica out of his life for nearly ten years had taught him that he would rather have her in his life, which told him the risk was worth it. 

“Even after… everything?” she asked. 

Logan wasn’t sure what everything included, but he answered as if he did. “You know when people talk about phantom limbs?” he asked. At Veronica’s odd look, he continued, “Like when someone has an arm amputated, but they still feel it?” 

“I know what phantom limbs are,” she replied. “I just am not sure how they relate to this discussion.” 

“For the past nine years,” Logan explained, “you’ve been like a phantom limb to me.” Veronica gave him an odd look. “It was like I could still feel you here even though you weren’t.” He wanted to reach out and touch her, but he didn’t because he wasn’t sure out she would react. So instead he just said, “So if you are asking if I would rather have that limb back, of course the answer is yes.” 

“Logan,” she began breathily. 

He interrupted her. “ But, you know Veronica, me wanting to be with you has never really been the question.” 

“You think me wanting to be with you has been?” Veronica asked somewhat defensively. She leaned up on her elbow now. 

“I’ve never been the one who left,” he said solemnly as he mirrored her position. 

Veronica initially opened her voice in defense, but the tone of Logan’s comment tore at her heart. As she looked at him in the dark, she saw the sixteen year old boy who had looked so lost when his girlfriend was killed, she saw the seventeen year old who had collapsed in her arms when he realized once and for all his mother was dead, and she saw the nineteen year old boy who had looked at her with pain in his eyes when she broke up with him the last time. 

Logan hadn’t meant to say what he had, and he hadn’t meant to show so much emotion. He began to open his mouth to say something to shrug it off, but Veronica beat him to it. “It wasn’t because…” She trailed off and swallowed, preparing herself for something that had never been easy for her to say, before she began again. “I never left because I didn’t love you,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry Logan,” she added simply.

He shook his head. He shouldn’t have let this conversation go in this direction, not this late at night when Veronica was already as emotionally exhausted as she was. She looked near tears, something he always found unnerving. “You don’t need to apologize, Veronica,” he said honestly. “I forgave you for everything a long time ago.” Bringing the conversation full circle, he added, “Like the quote said, ‘It takes one person to forgive…” He swallowed. Now was the tougher part. “I guess were left at the question of if you can forgive me?” he said. 

“For what?” Veronica asked.

“For being such an inconsiderate jackass when we were young,” he stated simply. 

Veronica laughed slightly, grateful to Logan for lightening the mood. Her guilt at having avoided him for nearly a decade was resurfacing, along with the question of just what might have been if she hadn’t. She studied him for a moment silently as he searched her face hopefully. “I forgave you ages ago,” she stated. 

Logan smiled. “I guess the only question remaining is if both of us having forgiven each other means that we want to try this again,” he said. “I already told you how I feel so…” 

Veronica watched him carefully as he spoke still considering what might have been. “Yes,” she finally said. With no other explanation, she leaned forward and kissed him deeply. Logan clearly required nothing else as he simply kissed her back.


End file.
